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Please use this thread for all discussion related to the competition, as per our 2009 Megathread. This includes: reviews, predictions, discussion on the performers and their repertoire, pictures, complaints about parking, etc.

FAQ

When and where does the competition take place?

This installment of the VCIPC will be held in Fort Worth, TX from May 24nd - June 9th. As always, we're all interested to hear "live" reports from any PW people who plan on attending the competition. For a complete schedule, click HERE.

Who are the competitors in this illustrious event, and how many times will I have to sit through the Liszt Sonata?

Find a complete list of the contestants and their repertoire, click HERE. Most of the competitors have already won major international competitions (Montreal, Queen Elizabeth, Leeds, etc.), so it's safe to say that it will be a bloodbath. There is only one returning candidate from the 2009 competition - Allesandro Deljavan.

...and while we're relatively light on the Liszt Sonata this time, there are more Rach 3s than you can shake a captive David Helfgott at.

Where's the live stream? I want to make fun of people who have memory lapses!

Info on the webcast can be found HERE. The quality and connection were somewhat spotty last time, so here's hoping that they will be able to support the bandwidth demands.

The winner receives three years of management (covering travel), a CD recording, lots of pretty clothes, and a $50k cash prize (increased from $20k in previous editions). Read all about the prizes HERE. The Cliburn's cash award for first prize is now on par with other major international competitions (namely the Cleveland, who will also present their competition this summer with several repeat offenders) and offers an extensive concert schedule for the winner. The total prize amount is valued at over $1 million (cue Dr. Evil laugh).

Competitions are stupid and arbitrary! My favorite competitor was eliminated after the first round! I hate you, Dad!

Yes, they are, and many wonderful pianists were culled in the paper round (not to mention the multi-city screening auditions). However, sometimes people who DON'T win end up getting more exposure than those who do. Read about the esteemed and discerning panel of judges for the competition HERE.

I want to read reviews and find out what kind of food and which movies each competitor likes!

Well then, why are you reading this stupid megathread?!?!? Click HERE before Congress passes CISPA!

That's about it. I'll start off the discussion with my own prediction for this year's results:

Mark_C
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Registered: 11/11/09
Posts: 19969
Loc: New York

Nice!

The only competitor I've heard of is one who didn't make your 'cut,' Jayson Gillham -- not sure exactly from where but I know that I did listen to some performances of his on youtube, maybe from the last Chopin Competition, and I was extremely impressed.

So what the heck, I'll pick him to make the finals.

If there are some who are better than him, it's a great field. Which I'm sure it is anyway.

(edit) .....went to youtube and first thing of his that came up was his Chopin Barcarolle from that Chopin Competition. It's beautiful.I'm be comfortable putting a few shillings on him.

Mark_C
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Registered: 11/11/09
Posts: 19969
Loc: New York

Originally Posted By: currawong

Originally Posted By: Mark_C

Originally Posted By: Polyphonist

And Shillings - what are those all about?

I figured that's maybe what they have in Australia, or else close enough.

We went decimal nearly 50 years ago.

(See above posts for what year I'm in.)

On a more serious note, we ought to mention.....

This is the first Cliburn Competition since Van Cliburn's passing, and the event is being dedicated to him. In a way of course they all have been dedicated to Van Cliburn, but this one is specially dedicated.

I guess judges will be sick of Petrushka by the end of this. I know of Yuri Favorin and Vadym Kholodenko, and they're great. I feel I should know Claire Huangci, but I may be getting her mixed of with someone else. I LOVE Alessandro Taverna's repertoire! That's my kind of entry.

_________________________
Music does not have to be understood;It has to be listened to.- Hermann Scherchen.

No sh*t, another piano competition coming up? Who would have thought. Having a look at the programs of some of the candidates, there's also one thing that surprises me! Some of them are playing the same rep they've been playing for years and years and years! (more than 10 years in some cases, and I can of course not comment on every single candidate) How can this be!

Here's a thoughtful article on competitions, if anyone's interested: http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/BlogEntry/308890,sydney-international-piano-competition-a-pianist-speaks-out.aspx

It's a pity that so many pianists do the circuit of piano competitions for several years until (or if, until they get too old to enter...) they win the first prize, which presumably would set them on the career path to stardom.

There are so many names here familiar from several international competitions - including finishing in the top three.

Let's not forget that Mitsuko Uchida and Louis Lortie didn't even win in Leeds (2nd and 4th respectively), yet were able to embark on very successful careers following that....

_________________________
"I don't play accurately - anyone can play accurately - but I play with wonderful expression. As far as the piano is concerned, sentiment is my forte. I keep science for Life."

No sh*t, another piano competition coming up? Who would have thought. Having a look at the programs of some of the candidates, there's also one thing that surprises me! Some of them are playing the same rep they've been playing for years and years and years! (more than 10 years in some cases, and I can of course not comment on every single candidate) How can this be!

Here's a thoughtful article on competitions, if anyone's interested: http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/BlogEntry/308890,sydney-international-piano-competition-a-pianist-speaks-out.aspx

There's one candidate who (very obviously) hasn't leaned a new program in a while. Sad, IMO.

The majority of the programs are disappointingly predictable, and of the few off-course selections, I was a little dismayed that Grieg Waltzes would be programmed at this level. Was that a joke? The Grieg A minor waltz can be played by 2nd-year beginners.

Mark_C
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Registered: 11/11/09
Posts: 19969
Loc: New York

Originally Posted By: AZNpiano

The majority of the programs are disappointingly predictable, and of the few off-course selections, I was a little dismayed that Grieg Waltzes would be programmed at this level. Was that a joke? The Grieg A minor waltz can be played by 2nd-year beginners.

Actually I'm surprised you'd say that last part in view of your first part!

I would view the programming of something like the Grieg pieces with very great interest -- because of what you said, both at the beginning of your post and the end. It's interesting because:

-- it's very unusual to do so-- the fact that the pieces are so 'simple' means (presumably) that the contestant feels that he/she (don't even know who it is) has something very special to offer with them, and it'll be interesting to find out.

I was also happy to see some Grieg waltzes thrown in there. And inbetween all of the standard war horses, I'm happy to see that there are some pianists doing interesting and lesser played repertoire. Look through the programs - we have Medtner, Debussy etudes, Busoni, Scriabin 10, heck, someone is doing a...Purcell suite?! Here's a short list of candidates whose programs appealed to me:

There's one candidate who (very obviously) hasn't leaned a new program in a while. Sad, IMO.

Well, I wonder for how many candidates that is true, really. I would guess it goes for quite a few of these pianists.

Looking at it from another viewpoint, though, I understand if someone decides to be very picky with competition repertoire provided that this musician keeps him/herself busy with a lot of other repertoire and projects outside of the competition. Two fairly young cellists I know, both winners of some of the most prestigious cello competitions in the world, entered most of their competitions playing the very same repertoire, but at the same time they were busy doing all sorts of other projects inbetween competitions. That's a healthy way of approaching competitions, IMO. But these pianists that just go from one competition to the next playing the same stuff....why, why?

How would you feel if somebody programmed Fur Elise? Or, closer to the level of the Grieg waltzes, C.P.E. Bach's Solfeggieto?

As far as I remember, the last winner of the Honens competition included both Kinderszenen and the Moonlight sonata in his program. Programming is a matter of taste. I don't understand why it would be a problem that someone goes for doing a few short and easy pieces inbetween the war horses. Would anyone consider Gaspard, Petrushka and Prok 7 in one go to be a good program...?

pianoloverus
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Registered: 05/29/01
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If the Grieg Waltzes are the ones from his Lyric Pieces(I can think of only two or three in that collection) I think this is a bizarre choice. There are plenty of non virtuoso works are really great music and musical challenges(Chopin Mazurkas, Brahms 116-119, Schumann Kinderscenen, etc.) so why program works like the Grieg which are very minor pieces even among his Lyric Pieces? Even from just a timing point of view, why would one include several pieces, each of around one minute length, in such a major competition?

pianoloverus
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Registered: 05/29/01
Posts: 19843
Loc: New York City

If the Grieg Waltzes are the ones from his Lyric Pieces(I can think of only two or three in that collection), I think this is a bizarre choice. There are plenty of non virtuoso works that are really great music and great musical challenges(Chopin Mazurkas, Brahms 116-119, Schumann Kinderscenen, etc.) so why program works like the Grieg which are very minor pieces even among his Lyric Pieces? Even from just a timing point of view, why would one include several pieces, each of around two minutes long, in such a major competition?

My guess is that these are not the well known Waltzes from the Lyric Pieces.

-- it's very unusual to do so-- the fact that the pieces are so 'simple' means (presumably) that the contestant feels that he/she (don't even know who it is) has something very special to offer with them, and it'll be interesting to find out.

1) Just because it's unusual doesn't mean you should program Grieg waltzes.

2) Seriously? Do you know which waltzes have been programmed? Take a look at those, and then get back to me.

I think the Grieg is programmed more for its shock value than anything else. I welcome unusual programming, but my main objection is that there are 10,000 other pieces far, far, far more worthy to be programmed for such a competition. For somebody to pick something so blatantly easy, it's bordering on mocking the entire competition itself.

Mark_C
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Registered: 11/11/09
Posts: 19969
Loc: New York

Originally Posted By: AZNpiano

1) Just because it's unusual doesn't mean you should program Grieg waltzes.

Hey, you're not paying attention!

The reason I said that -- the reason, the only reason! (and I so indicated in that post) -- was because you had said:

Quote:

The majority of the programs are disappointingly predictable....

....and it was in reference to that.Of course I didn't mean that this in itself is a justification to program something (although I agree with you that it is of value) -- and I wouldn't have indicated it as a sole reason (and didn't).

Originally Posted By: AZNpiano

2) Seriously? Do you know which waltzes have been programmed?

No. I would mean that other reason with regard to any pieces of the nature that you described. It would be applicable if the programmed pieces were from "Teaching Little Fingers to Play."

All I'm saying, really, is that the candidate has something interesting in mind and it will be interesting to see how it comes off. I realize that you don't see it that way (to say the least) but I'm not sure what you are meaning to imply about it. Are you saying that the candidate doesn't have any more-challenging pieces in his/her repertoire? I wouldn't think so, because that's impossible. Do you mean that he/she is stupid, or isn't thinking? That doesn't seem very possible either -- not because nobody would be capable of that but because such a stupid or negligent applicant would never have been admitted to the competition. (Right?) I'm willing to see it in some way other than that it's an interesting repertoire choice, but it would have to be something plausible, and I can't see it.